Minimum

The data for Minimum with the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER reveals a configuration built for extreme frame rates. The combination of a 24-core processor and a 16 GB graphics card produces a wide spread of performance across resolutions and presets. The benchmark results indicate a system that can easily handle high-refresh-rate 1080p and 1440p gaming, while 4K presents a more demanding challenge.

FAQ

Q: What is the highest average frame rate this combo achieves at 1920x1080?

A: The highest recorded average frame rate at 1920x1080 is 329 FPS, which is achieved with the Low settings preset.

Q: How does the combo's CPU performance compare to its closest rival?

A: The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus has an average benchmark score of 84003, which is 0.2% higher than the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K's score of 83807.

Q: What is the average frame rate at 2560x1440 with Ultra settings?

A: At 2560x1440 with the Ultra settings preset, the average frame rate is 104 FPS.

Q: What is the minimum frame rate recorded for the Medium preset at 4K?

A: The minimum FPS recorded for the Medium preset at 3840x2160 is 74 FPS, with an average of 87 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS.

Q: What is the GPU's launch MSRP?

A: The launch MSRP for the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is 799 USD.

Q: How does the combo rank among all tested configurations for this game?

A: The combo ranks 300th out of 2939 tested combinations for Minimum.

Settings Recommendations

The measured data for this combination suggests that the optimal experience depends heavily on the target resolution. The data shows a clear performance hierarchy across the four presets: Low, Medium, High, and Ultra. For players prioritizing maximum smoothness on high-refresh-rate monitors, the Low preset delivers exceptional performance, yielding an average of 329 FPS at 1080p and 212 FPS at 1440p. This setting is ideal for competitive play where frame rate is paramount.

However, the benchmark results indicate that the Medium preset offers a compelling balance between visual fidelity and performance. The jump from Low to Medium does cost some performance, but the average FPS remains very high, at 252 FPS for 1080p and 162 FPS for 1440p. The data shows that the GPU has enough headroom to handle this increased load while still maintaining frame rates well above 144 Hz at these resolutions. This suggests that most users would find the Medium preset to be the best overall choice, as it likely provides a significant visual upgrade without pushing the system to its limits.

The High preset is also a viable option, with an average of 211 FPS at 1080p and 136 FPS at 1440p. These numbers suggest that High is a great choice for gamers with 144 Hz or 165 Hz monitors who want better image quality than Medium provides. The Ultra preset, while offering the highest fidelity, sees a substantial performance dip. At 1440p, it averages 104 FPS, which is still playable, but at 4K, it drops to an average of 56 FPS. Given the data, the Ultra preset at 4K may not provide a consistently smooth experience, while the High or Medium presets would be more appropriate for that resolution. The data suggests a clear recommendation: use Medium for the best balance, or Low for maximum frame rates.

GPU Role

The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER is the primary driver of performance in this configuration, especially as resolution increases. Its 16 GB of GDDR6X memory on a 256-bit bus provides a substantial 672.3 GB/s of bandwidth, which is crucial for feeding the GPU's 8448 shading units at high resolutions. The benchmark results show that the GPU is a capable performer, with an average benchmark score of 31087 and a percentile ranking of 76 among all GPUs. This places it in the upper tier of graphics cards, though its closest rivals in the database, such as the NVIDIA TITAN RTX, have a slightly higher average score of 31676, showing a 1.9% delta.

The GPU's clock speeds are also a factor in its performance. With a base clock of 2340 MHz and a boost clock of 2610 MHz, the RTX 4070 Ti SUPER can quickly process the geometry and effects in Minimum. The card's performance in the game's measured FPS shows a clear pattern: at lower resolutions and settings, the CPU is more than capable of feeding the GPU, but at higher resolutions and settings, the GPU becomes the limiting factor. This is evident in the frame rate drops when moving from 1080p to 4K, which are more pronounced at higher graphical presets. The data implies that the GPU's 16 GB memory buffer is sufficient for all settings tested, ensuring that texture loading and memory allocation are not bottlenecks.

Measured FPS Breakdown

The measured FPS data provides a comprehensive look at how the system performs across different resolutions and settings. At 1920x1080, the system is exceptionally fast. With Low settings, it achieves an average of 329 FPS. Medium settings yield an average of 252 FPS, with a recorded minimum of 214 FPS and a maximum of 290 FPS. High settings result in an average of 211 FPS, while Ultra settings drop to 161 FPS. These numbers indicate that at 1080p, the system has immense headroom, making it suitable for even the fastest gaming monitors.

Moving to 2560x1440, performance remains very high. The Low preset averages 212 FPS, while Medium averages 162 FPS, with a minimum of 138 FPS and a maximum of 187 FPS. The High preset produces an average of 136 FPS, and the Ultra preset drops to 104 FPS. These results show that 1440p is a sweet spot for this combo, as it still provides high frame rates with all presets, including Ultra, which remains above the 100 FPS threshold.

At 3840x2160, the GPU's workload increases significantly. The Low preset yields an average of 114 FPS. The Medium preset delivers an average of 87 FPS, with a minimum of 74 FPS and a maximum of 101 FPS. The High preset averages 73 FPS, while the Ultra preset drops to an average of 56 FPS. This data shows that while the system is capable of 4K gaming, it is only at the Low and Medium presets that it consistently maintains frame rates above 60 FPS. The Ultra preset, in particular, would be best suited for less demanding scenarios or for players who prioritize visual fidelity over frame rate.

How This Combo Ranks

The combo of the Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus and the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 Ti SUPER ranks 300th out of 2939 tested combinations for Minimum. This puts it in the top 10.2% of all configurations in the database. This ranking is a strong indicator of the system's overall capability, but the measured FPS data shows that its position is not uniform across all settings. The ranking is a single number, but the performance is nuanced.

This high ranking is likely driven by the exceptional performance at lower resolutions and settings, where the combination of the powerful CPU and GPU can produce very high frame rates. The CPU's performance is a significant contributor here, as its Cinebench R23 multicore score of 51731 and Passmark multithread score of 60860 are excellent. The GPU's Passmark G3D score of 31811 is also strong. The combination of these two components ensures that neither is a bottleneck at 1080p, allowing the system to achieve its maximum potential.

However, the rank of 300 also suggests that there are 299 other combinations that are faster overall. The data indicates that at 4K Ultra settings, the system's performance is less dominant, with an average of only 56 FPS. This suggests that the GPU, while powerful, cannot maintain the same level of dominance at the highest settings as it does at lower ones. The ranking, therefore, reflects a system that is exceptional for high-refresh-rate gaming but less so for maxed-out 4K gaming.

CPU Role

The Intel Core Ultra 9 290K Plus plays a supporting but critical role in this configuration. With 24 cores and 24 threads, it is a massively parallel processor. Its base clock of 3.70 GHz and boost clock of 5.80 GHz are high for a processor with this many cores. The CPU's benchmark scores are very strong, with a Cinebench R23 single-core score of 7303 and a Passmark single-thread score of 4823, indicating excellent single-threaded performance.

Its performance in the database places it in the 96th percentile of all CPUs, with an average benchmark score of 84003. Its closest rival, the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K, has an average score of 83807, making the 290K Plus 0.2% faster. This CPU is clearly not a bottleneck in most gaming scenarios. The measured FPS data at 1080p, where the system achieves 329 FPS on Low settings, shows that the CPU is able to feed the GPU with enough frames to reach very high numbers.

The CPU's role becomes more apparent when comparing performance across resolutions. At 1080p, the frame rates are so high that they are likely starting to hit the limits of what the CPU can process in terms of draw calls and game logic. However, at 4K, the frame rates are much lower, indicating that the GPU is now the primary bottleneck. This suggests that the CPU has ample headroom for this game and is not limiting performance at higher resolutions. The large L3 cache of 36 MB likely also helps with game performance by keeping frequently accessed data close to the cores.

Resolution Scaling

The performance drop from 1080p to 4K is significant and reveals the system's limiting component. At 1080p with Medium settings, the system averages 252 FPS. At 1440p, this drops to 162 FPS, and at 4K, it falls to 87 FPS. This represents a 65.5% drop in frame rate from 1080p to 1440p, and a 46.3% drop from 1440p to 4K. The scaling is consistent with a GPU-bound scenario.

The data shows that the frame rate is not scaling linearly with the number of pixels. The pixel count quadruples from 1080p to 4K, but the frame rate does not drop by a corresponding factor. Instead, the drop is less severe, suggesting that the system is not purely GPU-limited at all resolutions. At 1080p, the high frame rates suggest that the CPU is more involved in the performance equation, as the GPU has to do less work per frame. As the resolution increases, the GPU's workload becomes much more demanding, and the frame rate drops accordingly.

This pattern indicates that the GPU is the limiting component at 4K. The RTX 4070 Ti SUPER, while powerful, cannot maintain the high frame rates at 4K that it does at 1440p. The CPU, on the other hand, has sufficient headroom to handle the game's logic at all resolutions, as evidenced by the relatively smaller performance drop at lower settings. For example, at Low settings, the drop from 1080p (329 FPS) to 4K (114 FPS) is 65.3%, which is similar to the Medium preset's drop. This confirms that the GPU is the main factor determining performance at higher resolutions.